Crabapple Tree

A mama black bear and her two cubs that were relocated from near downtown Canmore after feeding on a crabapple tree has opened the ornamental fruit tree discussion. What should you do if you have a flowering fruit tree or berry bush in your yard? Should we consider banning fruit trees in yards? Is there another way? I’ve compiled interviews with John from Alberta Parks, our Mountain Insider Tanya, and Tyler from Bow Valley WildSmart into one blog post.

John Paczkowski from Alberta Parks discusses the incident and recommends people pick their fruit and berry trees immediately if not remove them outright.

Tanya and I make the argument for an ornamental fruit tree ban in Canmore

Tyler from Bow Valley WildSmart suggests a local Fruit Gleaning program may be the better option.  It’s actually something they’ve already started working towards.

There are different opinions on the subject but everyone is in agreement on one thing – the bears are hungry and food is scarce, so to avoid attracting more of them into our neighbourhoods please pick fruit and berries off your trees as soon as possible.